So followers of The Webcomic Overlook may know that I’m not someone who was too keen on Strip Search. From the standpoint of a reality show, I thought it was too boring. From the standpoint of a webcomic show, I thought it was baffling. (A t-shirt design show? Really?) So before they even got to […]
The inaugural season of Strip Search, the first ever reality show to pit webcomic creator against webcomic creator, is coming to a close. I didn’t care much for the first couple of episodes, but I know there were plenty online who loved it (including my webcomic blogging compatriots Xaviar Xerexes and Gary Tyrrell). Granted, I didn’t stick around past Episode 5, so I’ll allow that the show got orgasmically awesome in its later installments.
What do you, the viewers at home think?
While I don’t typically report Kickstarters, I do like this particular comic quite a bit. So when the creator notified me that they were starting a Kickstarter to finish it off with a hardcover edition, I was happy to pass the news. From the press release on the Guns of Shadow Valley website:
Wild West Webcomic “The Guns of Shadow Valley” kicks off Kickstarter campaign
Santa Barbara, CA – June 14, 2013 – Dave Wachter and Jim Clark are comic creators and Wild West aficionados. Starting their comic book “The Guns of Shadow Valley” in a traditional format five years ago, they could not land a publishing deal, so they began a webcomic instead in the summer of 2009.
Since this humble beginning, they have had a large following of thousands of readers per week, over 100 pages of story, and nominations for Eisner and Harvey awards for excellence in digital publishing.
Then, everything came to a screeching halt.
“I’ve loved working full time with IDW and Dark Horse comics, but the paying gigs kept me from my dream project. It’s the one that I was really wanting to make a reality,” said Wachter.
So, the two decided to bring the story full circle by finishing the epic tale with an oversized, hardcover edition of The Guns of Shadow Valley.
“We have everything else in place, now we just need the financial resources necessary to complete the project,” said Wachter. “We are turning to Kickstarter and comic fans across the world for help.”
Kickstarter is a crowdfunding site where individuals can invest in projects they feel are worthwhile. The Guns of Shadow Valley campaign will kick off on June 14th and end on July 15th. The goal is $24,000 which will complete the second half of the comic storyline, print the entire story as a hardcover book, and throw in lots of extra incentives.
“For us, this is our opportunity to finish what we started. Our readers have been begging us to start it up again,” said Clark.
Readers can pre-order a signed and numbered copy of the hardcover edition for $30, and there additional benefits and rewards, such as T-shirts, original paintings, and even cameo appearances in the story.
The western motif is infused with other elements such as sci-fi, steampunk, superpowers, mysticism, and folklore. “If you can imagine ‘X-Men meets The Magnificent Seven’, then you have a good idea of The Guns of Shadow Valley and its theme,” said Clark.
Interested parties can visit the Kickstarter page at www.gunsofshadowvalley.com/kickstarter to learn more about the plans for the project and pre-order the book.
“We can’t wait to show everyone how this ends,” said Wachter.
To see the actual comic, visit www.gunsofshadowvalley.com
It happens every single time. There’s a new interpretation of a superhero out… but it’s totally different from what we’ve seen before! We grumble, whine, and complain about how the new directors are pandering to the terrible sensibilities of kids these days, ignoring the elements that made these heroes so beloved in the first place. But you owe to to yourself to step back a little. Dig up the source material and really look at it. Read the first issue encased in that anthology series, or even that first self-titled comic, and ask yourself: isn’t this always what Bob Haney and Nick Cardy intended?
That’s right, I’m talking about Teen Titans Go! It’s positioned in the enviable task of following up the highly well regarded Young Justice series. The way fans are going after it, it’s like … well, it’s like when the original Teen Titans cartoon debuted in the shadow of the much beloved Justice League series. (Teen Titans eventually became a well loved franchise in its own right, hence this new series which follows the character design of the original but is geared at a much younger age set.)
Yet, while the first episode of Teen Titans Go! follows “the team on a trip across the globe to find legendary sandwich ingredients”, you gotta realize that the original Teen Titans? They were pretty far out, man.
I’ve mentioned this webcomic before, but it seems high time to revisit this gem again. Tyler Rhodes’ Castle Vidcons was around during the previous generation’s console wars. The Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 were depicted as rival kings doing battle in a sepia-tinged medieval landscape. Now that E3 has come and gone, the knives are out again this year. Xbox One and PS4 are cruel new usurpers, parroting the fears, anxieties and loyalties all over the Twitterverse and the Tumblrverse. Given how hyperbolic and pitched the fight has gotten already, Castle Vidcons is the only way to watch this epic struggle between warrior kings with consoles for heads unfold.
A couple weeks ago a buddy and I were watching Game 6 of the Miami Heat/Indiana Pacers game. Guys like Chris Bosh and LeBron James were flopping to the ground to get the referees to call the fouls, our discussions turned to our favorite teams. My buddy was a big fan of the Heat. (He was pretty much the only one in the bar rooting for them. Everyone else was pulling for the Pacers to upset.) Me, though, I had to vouch for the team nearest and dearest to my heart: the Detroit Pistons.
And when you’re talking about the Pistons, inevitably the discussion turns to the legendarily thuggish team of the late 80′s-early 90′s called The Bad Boys. Dennis Rodman. Isiah Thomas. Bill Laimbeer. Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson. Joe Dumars. “Man, I miss those days,” I said, pointing to the players as they gingerly hit the ground after every foul. “Back then, not only would they have taken the elbow to the stomach, they would’ve come back at you and returned the pain tenfold.”
(Ah, the glory of being a Pistons fan. Even when they’ve won the championship as recently as 2004, you never forget your first love that is The Bad Boys.)
Am I naive to dream of earlier, more brutal time? Maybe. But maybe it’s also… the future! At least, that’s how it looks in Scott Sava and Alex Kolesar’s basketball themed webcomic, Hoop Fighter.
Hey, do you have some disposable income to throw at a piece of Internet history? Namely, a piece of webcomic history? Well, eBay has a treat for you!
That’s right, seller “absath_the_artist” is auctioning off the original panel of… well, here’s the product description:
This is the original sketch for the infamous comic “Loss”. Now you can own the original art from the comic that spawned a thousand parodies! Pencil sketch on 8.5×11 paper. Auction includes a signed copy of the finished comic- the only copy of this comic that I will ever sign
Hurry now! There’s only two days left to bid, and as of this writing the value’s up to $122! And, well, if that’s out of your price range, absath also has a lovely Napoleon Dynamite action figure that’s a steal at $10.
Click, click, click.
This is the sound of the future of digital comics, as the pundits say. Though, in my case, it was swipe, swipe, swipe.
There’s been some talk about how the “powerpoint” style of comics is going to become the next big thing for digital comics in the future. Now, I know we’ve heard the talk before, and a lot of us are plenty skeptical. The reality, though, is that the big boys, Marvel and DC, are both rarin’ to try it out. Over in their corner, Marvel’s been trying the technique out in their newly launched “Infinite” brand, which is digital only and available on the Marvel app; most are not currently on the Comixology app.
Aside: the awkwardly titled Ultimate Spider-Man Infinite IS available on Comixology for free. I would suggest not getting that one. It’s … pretty horrible. I know, it’s aimed for kids, but man, even if I was part of the intended age bracket I’d feel cheated by such a lightweight story with parts where Spider-Man goes super-deformed for some reason. Seriously, the Spidey Super Stories were less pandering. Also, for a title that includes “Ultimate” in it, it’s a comic about Peter Parker, and not Miles Morales, the current Spider-Man in the Ultimate titles. In fact, pretty much none of it, save maybe the Sam Jackson Nick Fury, seems to be set in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. (And even then, the Sam Jackson Fury is the current one in the baseline series.) Why even use “Ultimate”? Why? Why do you have to make things so hard, Marvel?!?!?!
So anyway, back to Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite #1-4, which are currently free to download on the Marvel app.
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I'd watch a season 2, just for the eliminations and finales.
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[…] seems that I may be the only person feeling that way, though. A poll on this site showed o
I think a number of your critiques are unfair given that you haven't seen most of the series. If you
Well, on the T-shirt issue... I don't think you neccesarily have to have an outstanding design, you
Gabe = Guy with beard Tycho = Bald guy You are saying that none of the three webcomics really fit th
Thanks for another great Know They History, El Santo. I watched the TV show and new a bit of the Tit
I feel lucky because I pretty much ignored the show until it was almost done, and then was able to w
This reminds me of the freeware RPG Barkley's Shut Up and Jam Gaiden.
Oh yes I was a fan of the Bad boys of Detroit as well. Who played dirty but had the best three guard
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